needs do so, for they hate and oppose sin on its own account because it is sin: with them, therefore, there can be no reservation, no favorite lust, which will not, with sin in every form, meet their aversion and resistance.

But on the contrary, if unsanctified men, whether hypocrites, carnal professors, or self-deceivers, make any opposition to open immoralities, they will reserve and cherish their own secret sins, their favorite lusts, their accustomed forms of iniquity; for they are not opposed to sin as such, but rather to its disgraceful or fatal effects.

2. The opposition of the saints to sin, is founded not merely nor chiefly in the consciences, but in their hearts; whereas if wicked men discountenance it from any other than worldly motives, their dislike arises so entirely from the remonstrances of conscience, that their hearts will, at the same time, love and defend it as earnestly as ever.

There is an irreconcileable enmity and aversion, between a holy heart and all sin; therefore the reason, the conscience, and the affections of good men, are opposed to it but sin is the very element of unholy hearts, the wicked love its ways, and if their consciences oppose it, they hate their consciences rather than the thing opposed.

3. Sin is habitually and perpetually opposed by the people of God; they have waged a war of extermination against it, and while the enemy is unsubdued, will never cease to contend; but the partial opposition of sinners is unsteady and transient, being remitted and renewed as interest or caprice, or slavish fear shall direct.

4. They who are sanctified, oppose the root as well as the branches, the existence as well as the influence and effects of sin; but the wicked are concerned only to prevent its unhappy consequences.

5. The saints, in the strength of the Lord and the power of his might, exert themselves to oppose sin; but the ungodly trust in an arm of flesh, in the strength of their resolutions, or the security of their self-righteousness; the weapons which they employ in this warfare are not spiritual but carnal, and therefore impotent and futile.

6. Such is the opposition made by the saints against sin, that their unholy propensities are subdued, their sanctification is promoted, and their progress in the divine life accelerated; but the wicked gain no advantage by their feeble and inconstant proceedings against sin,-they may, in their way, pray and hear, and vow and resolve, and when all is done, they are still the servants of sin, their corruptions are unsubdued, and their hearts devoid of holiness.

CHAPTER VII.

Disclosing the trial which is made of men's hearts, by the manner in which they perform the duties of religion.

THE following observations will illustrate this topic, and show the difference between saints and sinners,-between those who perform their religious duties acceptably, and those who do not.

1. The designs and desires of men, when they attempt to discharge their religious duties, show what they are at heart.

The designs and expectations of hypocrites, self-deceivers, and other unsanctified men, are ever low and contracted; adapted to answer their worldly ends, or merely to quiet their consciences; but those of God's

people, on the contrary, are liberal and elevated, suited to glorify God and procure important blessings to themselves.

2. The objects which occupy men's hearts, when they attempt to engage in the duties of religion, will lead to a discovery of their character.

Those who are destitute of real holiness, take little heed to their hearts, being comparatively indifferent whether they are wholly unaffected, or employed upon earthly objects; but it is the earnest wish and endeavor of the saints, to have their hearts fully occupied with divine things, to have their attention fixed, their affections elevated, and their motives pure.

3. The conscientiousness of men in the discharge of their private, as well as public duties, must not be overlooked in estimating their characters. Unsanctified men may be driven by their consciences to the closet and the sanctuary, but they are not conscientious either in statedly repairing to them or in performing their appropriate duties; a thousand worldly motives may, indeed, influence them to affect religion in public, which will not allure them into retirement for the purposes of piety; but to a scrupulous attention to either public or private duties of religion, from such motives as the gospel inculcates, they are utter strangers. The saints on the contrary, not only cannot long subsist if they neglect a conscientious discharge of these duties, but are inclined to practise them in a holy manner and from holy motives; it is the nature of true religion, to induce a scrupulous and constant attention to these various duties, especially such as belong to the closet, and such as relate to positive institutions: real Christians find their happiness in the performance of duty.

4. If we would know whether men are Christians, or mere pretenders to religion, we must inquire whether they are assiduous and persevering in the practice of piety. They, whose religion is false, may at times make a show of engagedness and zeal-when danger threatens, they may pray, vehemently; when religion is popular, they may be amongst the foremost to countenance it; but let danger disappear and their praying will cease, let persecution arise and they will leave those to endure it who love religion for its own sake; they attend to the forms of religion, only when impelled by slavish fear, allured by deception, or incited by worldly interest. True religion on the contrary, affords a permanent foundation in the saints, and furnishes powerful motives for assiduous constancy in the discharge of the various duties of piety. Whether dangers are apprehended or not, whether religion is popular or otherwise, whether their worldly interests are promoted or retarded by it, whether it procure favor or reproach, the saints will be holy still. They embraced religion for reasons which can be little affected by such things as these; they counted the cost, and are not disappointed; they have gained by religion what they can never lose; they still find in it sufficient to render the happiness it confers, and the exercise of the duties it enjoins, their highest privilege and glory; they love religion now and choose " always to abound in the work of the Lord"; the ways of piety are to them the ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace; and they joyfully anticipate the entrance for which they are preparing to the world above, where they will be free from the obstructions by which they are here surrounded, and where religion will fully and eternally employ all their powers. 5, The humility and self-denial of men's hearts when

engaged in duty, is closely connected with their true

character.

He who has Christian humility and self-denial, will exercise it, especially when he approaches the presence of Almighty God. It will occasion in him the most reverential apprehensions of the Divine Majesty, the deepest self-abasement, and most hearty renunciation of all dependence on himself or his doings, and entire reliance on the blessed Mediator for acceptance.

6. Another consideration by which men's hearts may be tried is, whether in the discharge of duty they have communion with God.

It is beyond contradiction, that unsanctified men never have communion with God, they never have what in scripture is so termed; and it is undeniable, that the saints do realize what is meant by this phrase, when they are engaged in the exercises of religion. This holy fellowship or communion, is founded in real union to the Lord Jesus Christ; it is enjoyed by those who have been brought nigh to God by reconciliation, and who draw near to him in duty; and if it cannot be adequately described to others, its reality, its present effects, and its blessedness are known to the people of God.

Let it be observed, that if some of these remarks, like such considerations as respect the spirituality of saints, and their growth in grace, are true of some in a higher degree than of others, yet their universal application is safe, and they are as definite as the case requires.